Improved molds for casting steel ingots



UNITED STATES PATENT JOHN E. FRY, OF JOHNSTWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification forming part ot Letters Patent No. 70,'710,v dated November 12, 1867.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J oHN E. FRY, of Johnstown, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Cores for Casting Steel In gots; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section, formed by a plane passing through the molds, core, and lask,in the lines as or y g, Fig. 2; and Fig. 2 is a top view of the core and ask.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts.

In workin g steel it has usually been found desirable to cast the manufactured steel into ingots, from which steel bars are formed by the process of rolling. The molds in which such ingots are cast have to be lled from the bottom, and usually a high degree of skill is required, in order that the molten steel may be so turned into the ingoia-mold as to strike the bottom of the mold first, and in no case, while being poured, to strike the sides, or be splashed from thebottom against the side; otherwise the ingot will be rendered seriously defective, it' it be not wholly spoiled.

By my invention I propose to connect the 4lower ends of a number of ingot-molds by channels, glitters, or gates running through a sand core, so that by turning steel into one ingot-mold the others will be iilled therefrom, the steel iiowing into them from the bottom, whereby the work of tilling will be greatly eX- pedited, the amount of loss from defectivelycast ingots, and also the amount of skilled labor required, be proportionately reduced and therein consists the nature of my invention.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myin vention,Iwill proceed to describe its construction and mode of operation.

a is a sand core, made in sections, as represented in Fig. 2, and fitted together in the tlask b, or made in a single section in the flask b, or in any other known manner. In its upper face are apertures c c', each inner aperture c connected with one or more outer apertures, o', by channels, gutters, or gates d, running through the sand core a beneath its upper surface.

Over each outer aperture c', and over the four inner ones c, are placed ingot-molds e e', of any desirable form or construction; but as I commonly make them they are tubes or pipes, of metal or other suitable material, either tapering slightly or divided longitudinally, the more easily to remove the ingot when cast. Such molds e e are held in their places by ears, lugs, hooks, rings, or by other well-known device commonly used for such or similar purposes.

Of course, the upper face of the sand mold or core a and the lower ends of the in got-molds e e should t each other, so as to prevent the escape of the molten steel therefrom. The steel, in a melted state, is then turned into any one of the molds e e', though usually it is better to fill from the center one, e', or from Such one as h as the most direct communication with each or all ofthe others. Thus, withthe time and labor now required to ll a single mold, five or more molds may be lled, so that I secure a proportionate reduction in the amount of skilled labor requisite for that purpose, as Well as an equal decrease in the percentage of loss from ingots defectively cast.

By filling through the gates d, the metal cannot come in contact with the sides of the molds so lled above the level of the metal as it rises. The number of ingots'which may be thus filled at once is limited only by the ability to connect them together by gates d of such length that the metal will flow through them and fill the molds before becoming solidified.

Practically, I nd it best to make the gates d as short as possible, so that I seldom t'ill at a single casting more ingot-molds than can be conveniently clustered together around, and connected with, the central mold e. Also, I commonly make the gates d curved, both for the reason just stated, and also because the melted steel will, like all other iiuids, Jflow more freely in a curved channel or gate than in an angular one. Also, the shorter such gates d are, the smaller they may be made, and, consequently, the less metal will be required to ll them; but the gates d may be made angular, or of any other shape, if so desired. But when I make the sand core a in a single section, the molds which form the gates d should be sections ot' circular rings, so that they may be removed readily by being drawn out by either end.

Til

The gates d, instead of opening by separate apertures c c into the lower end of the mold e', may, if so preferred, unite in a single aperture, or two or more apertures. Nor do I limit my invention to any particular arrangement of the gates d, since a single such gate may lead from the central mold e to any other mold or molds, and such mold or molds be similarly connected with any or all the remaining molds, and so on in any desirable order. Nor do I limit myself to any particular shape or mode of making either the sand core a or ilask b, nor to any particular material for the latter.

After the casting is complete and the metal has become sufciently solidified, I remove the ingots from the molds, in the ordinary orany other convenient way, breaking ofi' at the same time, or before, the metal which fills the gates d.

I am aware that William Weild obtained a patent in England, in 1864, for filling simultaneously a series of ingot-molds placed on a revolving metallicv table, Ahaving gates connecting with radiating gateways in a metal slab under said table, and placed over a ue of a heating-furnace; but my improvement is designed to obviate the difficulties attending the casting of steel ingots on a metallic bottom plate, in the manner therein described, and I do not claim the devices described in said Weilds specification.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The series of iron ingot-molds. e e', in combination with the sand core a, constructed substantially as hereinbefore described, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereofv I, the said JOHN E. FRY, have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN E. FRY. In presence of-l A. S. NICHOLSON, GEORGEk H. CHRISTY. 

